Don The Defender
by idioticonion
Summary: Don Frank is taken out by the ELE. Set after HIMYM Season 5 - Of Course


Looking back, Robin never knew what caused her to move an instant before something whistled past her ear and hit the wooden panel in front of her. But whatever it was – a flash of sun light glinting off glass or maybe some kind of sixth sense – it probably saved her life. Don wasn't going to be so lucky.

The next two shots almost set their carriage on fire.

And to think, Robin had said that a ride around Central Park on a sunny spring day would be romantic and relaxing. She'd been asking Don if they could do this again ever since their so-called super-date. And when they'd got off work that morning it had just seemed the perfect time.

Now, scared out of her wits, Robin crouched down tight against the seat, flattening her body as much as possible to avoid the barrage of whatever-it-was being fired at them. Don had gotten tangled in the foul-smelling blankets that littered the back seat and he was struggling to sit up.

"Stay down, you idiot!" Robin yelled, as Don reared upright in his seat, seemingly unfazed by the situation. How much of that was macho bullshit and how much was sheer stupidity she couldn't tell. She tried to yank him back down but his body was surprisingly rock-like and unyielding.

In any other circumstance? Totally hot. But right now, simply frustrating.

Two things went through Robin's mind as she risked a peek at the park around them. One was why the horse hadn't bolted – surely they should be galloping along the path out of control by now? And two, why in the hell was Don standing up in the seat? She could feel all the blood drain out of her face as she looked up at him, but he flashed her that familiar big-jawed, smug grin and replied "Not to worry, little lady, I'll save you!"

Did he just call her "little lady"? Seriously?

Another couple of shots whizzed overhead to crash and burn into the back of the driver's seat, leaving smoldering, red-edged holes in the wood. That wasn't any regular gun – it looked like a laser beam being fired. But what in the hell?

Robin craned her neck to look for their attacker and caught a glimpse of a figure standing on the wall opposite them, dressed in a blood-red coat, his face covered with huge welding goggles. She delved into her purse for her gun with anger and adrenaline coursing through her veins.

The driver of the buggy, who was unaccountably dressed like some kind of founding father, swiveled on his seat to look at them. He sighed irritably and said in a loud, bombastic voice, "So, Defender! We meet again! You could at least have the courtesy to be dead!"

Robin's mouth dropped open as her fingers found reassuring metal and she tried to unobtrusively pull the gun from her purse. Did she hear that right? Defender?

"Fake Thomas Jefferson! I thought I smelled the Evil League's stench all over this!" Don countered, and Robin swore that he puffed out his chest. "What villainy is this?"

Afterwards, Robin swore, although everyone told her it was product of her overactive imagination, that the horse drawing their buggy looked over its shoulder and gave her the most intelligent look she'd ever seen in an animal. Then it let out a terrifying whinny and the gun almost went off in her hand.

"Bad Horse!" Don gasped, expression slackening with shock. "But I'm retired, why would you-"

His words were cut off by a loud, sizzling, bang and Don's neck and chest lit up with a weird, fiery glow and he toppled over to lie twitching on Robin's lap.

Robin was frozen to the spot, unable to move with Don's weight on her, even if she wanted to. She saw him struggle for breath, choking his last, then his eyes closed and he went limp.

Typically, with his face in her lap.

"Jesus," Robin sputtered. "You killed him!"

She felt the carriage jolt as someone jumped into it and kicked Don's body with black-booted feet. It was the guy in the red coat, holding what looked like one of Barney's laser tag guns. Laser tag, but in real life. When Robin managed to focus on his face, she almost lost her lunch.

"Barney?" She gulped, horrified.

"Doctor, how kind of you to join us," The buggy driver said in a voice that practically dripped with resentment. "Now, if you can just eliminate the witness, we can get out of this god-forsaken city."

The man in the goggles looked so much like Barney, but it wasn't Barney. Even in Robin's freaked out state she could see the tiny differences – paler, thinner, maybe even younger. The part of her fear-frozen mind that was still rational wondered if she had finally found Barney's doppelganger.

Was Barney's doppelganger part of a gang who liked to play dress-up in the park?

More importantly, Barney's doppelganger was a murderer. He'd killed Don and he was going to kill her. The laser gun in not-Barney's hand swung around until it was pointing straight at her.

"Well hurry it up, man!" The buggy driver ordered imperiously. "She's a Hero's girlfriend." His voice became snide. "Isn't that your specialty? Getting rid of their girlfriends?"

The gun moved suddenly, lighting fast, until it was aimed right at the driver's chest. In a low, scratchy voice that sounded nothing like Barney's, the red-coated man said, "Back off, dude."

Robin too advantage of the stand off to struggle out from under the dead-weight of Don's body just in time to hear the red-coated man say to her, under his breath, "Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice. She leapt from the carriage and pelted across the path and over the grass as fast as she could, through a crowd of onlookers that she hadn't even noticed before now.

She didn't stop until she reached Strawberry Fields. It wasn't until she was safely back at the bar and had stopped crying, that she wondered why Barney's doppleganger had saved her.


End file.
